18,788 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jun 22, 2016 20:55:52 GMT
I'll go and see Evita when it comes around again. I like it, it's like an old friend you haven't seen for a bit. And I like that production too. I could do without Marti Pellow though
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2016 20:59:40 GMT
I find the kenwright production superior to the west end revival
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2016 21:35:45 GMT
Stephen Ward wasn't good. That's why it closed. Someone needs to tell the creatives to stop kidding themselves
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Post by Mr Wallacio on Jun 22, 2016 21:45:02 GMT
I dayseated the penultimate performance before seeing the closing of From Here To Eternity that evening.
It was awful and came as no surprise to me it was shutting so swiftly. Absolutely no desire to see it again.
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1,186 posts
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Post by Steve on Jun 22, 2016 23:05:18 GMT
I saw one of the last performances of this. I liked the music, but the lead character was pimping out underage girls to rich men, and the whiny book indicated we were supposed to feel sorry for him. Fail!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2016 23:17:50 GMT
I quite liked it, though it needs a bit of work. As someone previously mentioned, Joanna Riding's character walked across the stage in act 1 and then got THE big ballad in act 2. We knew nothing about her character, so why should we care? And that song, I'm Hopeless When It Comes To You, always leaves me singing 'There is More To Love' from Aspects....
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Post by oxfordsimon on Jun 22, 2016 23:22:19 GMT
I think there is a show in there somewhere - but it needs to be about Profumo and Ward - otherwise it is just too remote from the real heart of the events.
Can they salvage it? Probably not - but it is worth another try.
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125 posts
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Post by CBP1 on Jun 22, 2016 23:32:56 GMT
I also thought it wasn't that bad. I saw it in the same week as From here to Eternity and I definitely preferred this one!!
It clearly needed some work and the crappy advertising did it no favours at all. Or the name actually - I don't know why it wasn't just called something like "Profumo".
I remember leaving the theatre and saying that it could have worked if it had been in a much smaller venue like the union, where they could have really played up the seedy subject matter.
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Post by d'James on Jun 22, 2016 23:53:58 GMT
Oh, cbp1, you're so right; the name didn't help.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2016 0:54:18 GMT
I actually think that the lead was quite good the last time round, and actually thought that because he was the person carrying the whole show, he was destined to be the sole Olivier nomination for the production... then I look at the list of the nominees for the Oliviers that year and there really wasn't much room for him anywhere, all the nominated performances were great:
Gavin Creel in The Book of Mormon (Winner) Jared Gertner in The Book of Mormon Douglas Hodge in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Kyle Scatliffe in The Scottsboro Boys
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2016 5:59:23 GMT
They need to retitle it too. I know they wanted to avoid film comparisons but 'scandal' is a much sexier and enticing title than 'stephen ward'
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2016 8:40:56 GMT
I also really liked this show. Interesting subject matter and I thought had some great music.
Agree that it needs considerable reshaping though - but there is a show in there somewhere.
Can see it doesn't have commercial appeal (tourists not interested and not a jukebox/film which is all the coach trips seem to want) so a small theatre would definitely be good for it. I think ALW knew when he wrote this wasn't gonna be a big hit (think he said as much in an interview) but he was fascinated by the topic.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2016 9:35:28 GMT
Many were based on already established books or movies. He had the sense not to call starlight express 'trains', which was the original plan. The closest comparison is evita and that wasnt called 'eva peron'. Hardly anyone these days would know/remember stephen ward, even if they remember the original affair.
It was also rushed through as well which didnt help. Like the woman in white it should have been a smaller more intimate production and probably should have tried out on the fringe or at a regional house
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2,452 posts
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Post by theatremadness on Jun 23, 2016 9:48:47 GMT
I just can't get my head around the fact that the composer, lyricist and librettist for Sunset Boulevard proceeded to give us Stephen Ward. Better source material, I guess.
I thought Stephen Ward was more deadly boring than bad, though I thought it was quite bad, too. Nothing interesting happened in the entire show. Literally nothing. There were no stakes, no intentions or objections, nothing to care about and nothing to *make* me care. The interrogation scenes in particular were just excruciating to sit through and the projected cloth design was so poorly executed.
In contrast to others I think the score is dull as dishwater (in contrast to Love Never Dies, for example. Saw the original, original London version and was bored senseless but think there are some glorious and memorable melodies in that score) and the lyrics totally pedestrian and bland. Don wrote so many mis-stressed lyrics for this show (and others, it must be said). Why can't he hear that this is not how people talk?!
Anyhow, with a re-worked book, lyrics and libretto (which I think could be on the cards?) and if this was presented as a chamber piece at somewhere like the Almeida, Menier, Union, Southwark (as others have said), my interested would be piqued, purely to see if they have indeed improved it or not. If they're prepared to make drastic changes, I'm prepared to try it again.
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4,799 posts
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Post by The Matthew on Jun 23, 2016 10:15:36 GMT
I wonder how well Cats would have done had it been named "Pussy!" (complete with punctuation).
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Post by Honoured Guest on Jun 23, 2016 12:37:20 GMT
Stephen Ward: Pimp!
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746 posts
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Post by horton on Jun 23, 2016 12:52:09 GMT
I was so disappointed with the whole approach. This could have been dark and really dramatic- I always associate the Scandal movie with Mona Lisa. That sleaze at the heart of the Establishment has such potential. I don't think ALW and Hampton had the appetite or worldview to really mine that.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2016 13:11:20 GMT
I think we can all agree that it could have done with a heap of nudity to make it worth the trip.
And a tap routine.
Possibly together.
Let's hope the Lord has learned his lesson this time around.
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540 posts
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Post by freckles on Jun 23, 2016 14:01:37 GMT
I didn't hate it,in fact I enjoyed it more than a lot of other ALW shows, but the whole thing seeemed unfinished. Maybe now they will make something better of it.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2016 14:34:29 GMT
Catchy titles and the promise of sexual scenes really didnt help a TERRIBLE musical in the mid 90's called 'Voyeurz'
It hit the headlines for it's subject matter - Lebians! On Stage!!! and then closed about 2 weeks later....
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578 posts
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Post by ncbears on Jun 23, 2016 14:49:38 GMT
I didn't hate Stephen Ward. I did very much appreciate the box office giving me a fifth row center stalls seat for a day seat price (ok - it was after the show announced its closing date). Hailing from the States, I knew vaguely the outlines of the story of Christine Keeler but had no knowledge of the Ward aspect. I felt like the show didn't really explain itself to anyone who didn't know the details of the story. I didn't mind Act One - but it ended strangely and Act Two just sort of took off with little regard to what had happened. And suddenly a show called Stephen Ward is about everything and everybody other than Stephen Ward for a very long time. The promise of the opening of explaining how he ends up in a "villains" display is unfulfilled - yes, it is unwarranted - but the show never explains why he becomes a "villain".
I also agree with Ryan that a tap number could only have improved the show.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2016 15:27:57 GMT
Yes I have the CD too. One of the few that I have only ever played once. I keep hoping to see it on a collectors item list some day.
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1,510 posts
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Post by anita on Jun 24, 2016 9:20:18 GMT
I don't think it helped that Andrew Lloyd Webber was so biased in thinking Stephen Ward was innocent. I never bought that.
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Post by Honoured Guest on Jun 24, 2016 9:25:07 GMT
I don't think it helped that Andrew Lloyd Webber was so biased in thinking Stephen Ward was innocent. I never bought that. It worked with his Eva Peron musical so I suppose he thought he could play the same trick again.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2016 19:00:45 GMT
Whatever is going on with this, looks like Charlotte Spencer is still involved.
I personally think it's great that this is being redone, even though some people on here think it isn't. I imagine it probably will be for The Other Palace, maybe an announcement could be due early in the new year??
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2016 23:18:01 GMT
Whatever is going on with this, looks like Charlotte Spencer is still involved. I personally think it's great that this is being redone, even though some people on here think it isn't. I imagine it probably will be for The Other Palace, maybe an announcement could be due early in the new year?? I'm glad they are looking back into it, it needs re-working for it to work though. When I saw it on its second preview, it wasn't bad, but it was one of the least-impressive or enjoyable shows I have seen in London. I would go back to see it purely because I only saw it on second preview and would of hoped it had gotten better. It could work well in a smaller venue though, with work done to both the book and score. The leads were terrific though. It will also need a small venue to work for the simple fact it will be remembered, if at all, only as "that Andrew Lloyd Webber flop" to the general public. So it needs a smart promotion team and a suitable venue for it. And take their time and really work hard on making it work.
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Post by firefingers on Nov 7, 2016 23:20:43 GMT
It was/is being workshopped behind closed doors at the St James theatre. Definitely was in September anyway.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2016 23:55:56 GMT
Can't someone just give it to the Dame that no one cares?!?!
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4,554 posts
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Post by Mark on Nov 8, 2016 9:54:06 GMT
One of the worst shows I've ever seen.
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1,445 posts
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Post by steve10086 on Nov 8, 2016 10:50:10 GMT
I'm another who liked it, and would welcome another production.
Act II needed a major overhaul, but otherwise I really liked the songs, and the subject matter fascinated me. I like it when a musical raises a topic/story that inspires me to research further, and this was one.
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